Three schoolchildren, bus driver plucked from Texas floodwaters

CHINA SPRING {AP} Soldiers from Fort Hood used a helicopter to pluck three children and their driver from the roof of their school bus as floodwaters swirled around the vehicle Friday.

One by one, the students and the driver from the Valley Mills school system were strapped into a harness and airlifted to safety in the arms of an Army medic.

The rescue was one of the most dramatic Friday as Texans struggled with high waters from a night of heavy rains and flooding that washed out at least one bridge. Fire from a lightning strike destroyed a century-old Plano church.

Officials said no one was injured in the bus rescue near China Spring, 83 miles southwest of Dallas. The children, siblings aged 5, 7 and 11, were taken to a Waco hospital as a precaution and then sent home with their parents.

Valley Mills school Supt. Arvell Rotan said the bus driver, Art Aguilar, was crossing the Childress Creek when the bus was swept into the water.

"It was dark and I think he was caught by surprise," Rotan said.

Aguilar, who has worked for the district eight years, called 911 on a school district cellular phone. Emergency crews secured the bus in the water, which was several feet deep and rushing. The driver and students climbed through the emergency exit and waited on the roof.

"It was coming very fast and we didn't know if it was going to rise anymore," said Rotan, who was at the scene.

Sgt. Michael Thomas said the children were pretty calm. "That surprised me," the medic said.

At one point while being hoisted, one of the children was temporarily caught in some tree limbs, but was freed moments later.

The skies were overcast and breezy but no rain was falling during the rescue, said 1st. Lt. Angie Presnell, the co-pilot. "If the weather was worse, it could have gone wrong," she said.

Thunder and hail accompanied multiple storms across wide sections of Texas with heavy rains that flooded some roads and vehicles.

Wind gusts up to 60 mph and baseball- to softball-size hail were associated with the storms. The National Weather Service posted a flash flood watch and wind advisory through today.

Rain totals for the past two days have approached a half-foot in some locations around the Dallas-Fort Worth area.